Waterless gas holder



' Jan, 31, 1939. F. ElNlr-:CK

WATERLEss' GAS HOLDER Filed May 18, 1935 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS patetica Jan. 31, 1939 2,145,812

UNITED@ STATES PATENT OFFICE vwnv'riirulnss GAS Hopman Friedrich Einbeck, Dortmund, Germany, assignor to The Staceyros. Gas Construction Com- Dany, Cincinnati,l Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application May 18, 1935, SerialNo. l,22,255 "In Germany October 5, 1934 2 claims. (o1, 481-176) f This invention relates to storage reservoirs or ving gas pressure, may be conveniently added holders for gas, or volatile liquids and is parthereto without disruption of vstability against ticularly directed to improvements in the vertitilting, having a service deck from, which the cally translatable piston within the reservoir as piston seal, in cooperation with the wall of the 5 a movable top closure therefor. The gas of the gas holder, may be serviced and maintained in 5 reservoir is confined in the space between the a Yconvenient manner, in the whole structure of piston and the closed base of the holder. This which the mass center of gravity is below the piston, by its weight, maintains'the gas under center of buoyancy thereof. vpressure and is vertically translatable in order to It is a further object of the present invention l accommodate for changein thegasfsumplyI conto Vprovide an improved piston construction l0 tained within the reservoir. Thistype of' gas whereinv the strains occurring when there is a holder'is commercially referred to as a waterless tendency for the piston to tip are sustained by gas hlderor drygas'meter. the framework of the piston ratherthan by the Pistons for waterless gask holders are known in piston walls, and wherein the piston, particularly which the weights for increasing vthe pressure of the roof ory crown thereof, can be constructed of l5 the ystored gas are placed in a central container light materials since there are no stresses transwhich is located below the piston deck so that ferred from the guide rollers to the piston walls. there 'is a counteractive moment when the piston It is, a further -object to provide a piston of is tipping which serves to move the piston back this structure wherein the framework supporting toits original or horizontal p Asition. This conthe sealing means and the guide rollers is dis- 20 struction is imperfect, 'because i t is difficult to .posed in such relation to the crown or roof of provide enough place 'for yballastV-forhigh presthe piston that the center of gravity is lowered "sure, and, therefore, with lessv ballast for low'or to a much greater extent than possible heretomedium pressure, the'ucounteracting moment fore, in other words, well below the center of g5 against tilting is not strong enough to move the buoyancy. 25

Vpiston into its normal horizontal'position. Fur- Other objects and further advantages will be thermore, this construction iscomphcated and more fully apparent from the drawing, in which:

expensive, Figure l is a diagrammatic cross sectional view vTilting off the piston of `a waterless type gas through a gas holder showing the piston disposed holder, within the holder itself, causes unusual therein. structural strains, gives rise to a higher frictional Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view illusforce counteractive against vertical translation trating the service space and platform or walk of the piston, land 'makes' positive gasusealing afforded by the ypresent invention for access to difficult. the piston seal, and detailing the seal of the 55 It is the concept of this invention to provide a piston Vin cooperation with the gas holder wall. 35 construction for a piston for a gas holder of the Figure 3 is a sectional diagrammatic view of type described, which piston has a mass center of a piston construction modified from the form gravity substantially below the center of buoyshown in Figures l andl 2, which is suitable for ancy thereof whereby a Substantial, counteractthe reception of ballast below and in conjunction 40 `ing moment is set up as the piston tends to tip with the service walk. 40 within the holder. In this manner the piston is Referring to the drawing, a gas holder, prefstabilized at horizontal position. erably having a'substantally smooth interior "The improvementof this invention is that the surface free from irregularities and distortion, is piston deck is constructed on the lower edge of generally indicated at 5. Disposed within the Y the piston shell. A platform is-v placed on the gasholder is a vertically translatable piston gen- 45 'outside of the lower edge of the shell.l This platerally of inverted cup shape, indicated at t. vforni can be built 'as a cup forholding ballast. The top or deck of the piston is indicated at l Another advantage of this invention is the -buildand the cylindrical shell or skirt at 8. The piston ing of an annular service space for the seal, which may be said to include a dome-shaped crown can bemade by the ruse of an elastic seal ring including aA rim. 50 pressed against the holder shell, or other suit- The diametric width of the piston 6 is substanable manner. tially smaller than the diametric width of the It is therefore an object of this invention to holder to provide space for the sealing mechanism a provide la horizontally stabilized piston; conand to provide an annular sealing mechanism k structed in such manner that ballast, forincreasserviceway between the holder and piston. It 55 Y the service walkway I Il are a umns i3. Rotatable may be noted that the construction disclosed herein is suitable for cylindrical or polygonal types of gas holders.

The wall of the piston 6 is circumferentially strengthened by a rigidly annexed girth iron 9, upon which latter is disposed the lateral rim providing a walkway or annular service platform Eil supported at spaced intervals by contilever or bracket plates I I rigidly annexed to the piston side Wall or skirt.

The circumferential framework which carries the rollers and the sealing means constitutes a space within which the operator may move for servicing the seal and the guiderollers of the piston. The skirt of the piston shellwand the rim extending laterally Vfrom the lower edge of the skirt enclose this space, and the rimV forms a walkway for the operator.

Radially spaced about and embracing the skirt 8 of the piston E and mounted for support on plurality of guide roller and seal mechanism support frames, each comprising an inner vertical column I2, an outer vertical column I3, a top crosstie or beam I'G, lateral braces or struts I5 and I6, and an intermediate frame crosstie or beam II. Each outer vertical column I3, is braced from the service deck I9 by a buttress or gusset plate I8, the upper extremity of which also serves as a gusset plate for supporting the lower extremity of the lateral brace I5. The inner and outer columns I2 and E3 respectivelyare secured in position by angle irons i9 and 20.

The juncture of the piston top 'I and the side wall 3 may be reinforced, if desired, by a corner strengthening ring annexed to the framing to carry the stresses thereof. The framing at the upper extremity may be annexed to this ring or directly to the piston Wall 1. It is preferable that a gusset plate ZI of substantial strength be provided at the juncture of the inner column I2,

the upper or inner extremity of the inwardly extending lateral strut I5, and the upper crosstie beam l, since tilting of the frame will focus the forces incident thereto substantially at this locality.

Each frame is cross braced to each adjacent frame. At a level near the service deck I 0 a horizontal support beam 22 connects the outer colurnns 3 to tie the frames together into a rigid frame-work lattice. VA similar set of frame crosstie beams (not shown) are provided at the upper extremities between the outer vertical colguide rollers 23, engaging against the wall of the gas holder, journalled on the frame at the level of the lower crosstie 22, through bearing brackets 24 mounted on the outer vertical columns I3. Upper rotatively mounted guide rollers 25, engaging the wall of the gas holder, aremounted by means of brackets 26'on the frame at a level near the upper extremities of the columns I3. The brackets 24 and 2B are secured directly to the outer columns I3. If the radial frame spacing is substantial, the brackets may be mounted directly on the lower and upper horizontal frame beams 22.

The piston sealing mechanism is hung on the framing near the lower extremity thereof, whereby the mass center of gravity of the entire structural system is kept at a low level with respect to the piston height. A support arm 27 is mounted cn each outer vertical column I3 and carries a channel iron bracket 28 disposed generally circumferentially relative to the holder. A flexible hanger strip 29 is secured to the 4bracket 28 and carries the piston sealing mechanism, generally indicated at 30. This sealing mechanism includes sets of superimposed packing rings 3l,

3l, and a spacing ring 32 between the sets. An elastic, dilatable, sealing ring 33 is secured to the hangerstrips 29 and has a continuous circumferential skirt.3a secured to the service deck by sealing brackets 32h.

The packing rings 3! are held in lubricated sealing contact against the inner wall of the gas holder or reservoir. The dilatable ring, which is on the inside of the unit adjacent the packing rings, is acted upon by pressure means for dilation of the unit.

`The dilatable ring includes a plurality of inwardly disposed vertical flutes 34 at spaced intervals around the circumference thereof. Pressure plates 34a, disposed against the ring intermediate the fiutes, are urged outwardly by means of translatable links 35 pivotally engaged with swinging leivers 36. These levers Yare pivoted at their upper ends on a channel 3] annexed to the outer columns I3 and carry the counter-weighted pressure levers 38. The levers 38 continuously maintain pressure Contact of the'sealing rings against the wall of the holder. Y

It will, of course, .be understood that the piston sealing mechanism, herein disclosed, is not critical in connection with the invention inasmuch as any suitable piston sealing arrangement may be used.

Figure 3, diagrammatically disclosing the structural elements suitable for the manufacture of a piston of the type described, discloses an annular receptacle or tank 39 located' below the service walkway I3, encircling the piston wall 8, in which tank, ballast, such as sand, water, rock, or other suitable material may be disposed for Ythe purposeA vof increasing the weight of the piston, and thus increasing the `pressure of the gas maintained within the reservoir. This construction'is particularly suitable inasmuch as it provides an area for conveniently locating ballast at a level on the piston whereby the mass center of gravity of the same is maintained in the same relative position, or even lowered.

Y The pistons, heretofore known in the art, afford a location for ballast only on top of the dome or deck 7, in which event the piston so constructed is rendered even less stable against tilting.

A stairway 40 is provided within the framing for access between the piston top or dome and the Walk. Likewise a stairway 4I provides access to the upper guide rollers for convenient service and maintenance thereof.

In Figures l and 3 the mass centers of gravity 0f the piston are represented by the dots 43 and 43 respectively, while the centers of gravity due to gas pressure acting on the piston dome or deck are represented by the dots 44 and 44 respectively. These representations show that there is a great distance betweenr the centersV of gravity, so that there will be a large counteractive moment against tipping of the piston. The load which occurs on the guide rollers when the piston is ing of the piston. Therefore, the piston itself can be very lightly constructed as there will be substantially no stress from the rollers transferred to the piston, and likewise the gas pressure acting thereon is equally distributed.

Having described my invention, I claim: l

l. A translatable piston for a waterless type gas holder comprising, a circumferential frametipping, is sustained by th'efram-V work in the form of a ring adapted to be disposed within the gas holder, said framework carrying rollers around its top and bottom in contact with the holder wall, a sealing means carried by the framework and engaging the wall f of the-holder, and a piston structure supported yby said framework consisting of a crown supported solely around its circumferential margin substantially at the top of the framework, a. skirt depending from the crown and lining the insidey of the framework, and arim extended laterally from the lower edge ofthe skirt around the bottom of the framework, said framework being of Vsufficient, rigidity in and of itself to resist the strains transmitted from the rollers, independently of the crown, the skirt and the rim.,

2.`A translatable piston for a waterless type gas holder comprising, a. crown, a cylindrical side wall, a lateral rim extending peripherally from the lower edge of the side wall, a supporting and bracing framework for said piston,v said side wall and rim attached to said supporting framework, said supporting framework disposed substantially within the heighth of the side wall and including guide rollers around its top and bottom engaging the holder wall, and a sealing means engaging the holder wall, said frame having suillcient stiffness, independently of the crown, the side and the rim for resisting tilting strains and thereby stabilizing the piston.

FRIEDRICH EINBECK. 

